Mumbai bridge that collapsed ‘cleared safety audit’ in November

Railway minister Piyush Goyal also said a report about the bridge collapse at Mumbai’s Andheri station after heavy rains will be submitted in 15 days.

The bridge which collapsed in Mumbai on Tuesday and injured five people was cleared in a safety audit in November 2017, said Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, calling the accident “very unfortunate” and “most unexpected”.

The Andheri bridge collapsed after heavy rains in Mumbai on Tuesday. (Satyabrata Tripathy/HT Photo)

The Railways, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, and the Indian Institute of Technology will jointly conduct a safety audit of 445 bridges over train tracks, Goyal was quoted by PTI as saying. The joint study was ordered because the bridge that collapsed at Andheri station underwent an audit on November 12 and “nothing abnormal” was found.

Goyal said the Commissioner of Rail Safety will give a report in 15 days about the bridge collapse that held up local train service in Mumbai. The injured will get Rs 1 lakh each as compensation and the Railways will bear their medical expenses.

The concrete slab fell onto empty train tracks, damaging part of the platform roof and high-tension electric wires. Rescuers were cutting through the concrete and iron of the fallen slab, while engineers were working to restore power and train services.

Last year, at least 22 people died and 32 others suffered injuries in a stampede triggered by a rumor that a pedestrian overpass had collapsed after concrete chunks fell at another railway station.

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